Justine’s Comments (group member since Jan 27, 2015)

Justine’s comments from the Beyond Reality group.

At the moment I'm reading Otherbound by Corinne Duyvis and listening to All the Crooked Saints by Maggie Stiefvater on audio.

Welcome Randy!

Shel, I'm really enjoying so far! So much more so than the last girl passing as a boy story I read this year, Flame in the Mist, which was honestly such a let down :(

I have a bunch of things on the go at the moment:

Wonder Woman: Warbringer by Leigh Bardugo
Leia, Princess of Alderaan by Claudia Gray - I'm doing the audio of this with my kids when we are in the car and it is excellent!
Eon: Dragoneye Reborn by Alison Goodman
Cosmic Powers: The Saga Anthology of Far-Away Galaxies edited by John Joseph Adams

And still working my way through The Big Book of Science Fiction...but that will be for a long time yet.

Silvana, Shards of Honor was one I thought of too! I might end up just voting for yours instead:)

For fantasy, my nomination is Steeplejack by A.J. Hartley.

For SF, my nomination is Borne by Jeff VanderMeer.

Welcome Travis:)

I would like to nominate The Changeling by Victor LaValle for fantasy.

For SF, my nomination is An Oath of Dogs by Wendy N. Wagner.

For SF I will nominate A Darkling Sea by James L. Cambias.

For fantasy, I will nominate The Lie Tree by Frances Hardinge.

That sounds fine to me. I've already recently read The Expanse, but I'm happy to just wait on Hobb.

Diane wrote: "Justin, I had no idea there was a cartoon (anime?)! Thanks!"

You're welcome! If your child likes anime then you should try Avatar: The Last Airbender series. It's excellent and very appropriate for a 7 year old and above.

I've read some really excellent books so far this month, including Confluence by S.K. Dunstall, which is the final book in the amazing Linesman trilogy. Also good this month were The Power by Naomi Alderman, The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden, An Accident of Stars by Foz Meadows, and After the Crown by K.B. Wagers (which I thought was a step up from the first book in The Indranan War series).

I'm currently reading The Young Elites series by Marie Lu, and really enjoying it. I plan to get to Child of the Prophecy by Juliet Marillier and Cast in Silence by Michelle Sagara before the end of the month.

For SF I would like to nominate Lotus Blue by Cat Sparks

For fantasy I would like to nominate Red Sister by Mark Lawrence.

Diane, my kids enjoyed watching Deltora Quest, which is also based on Rodda's books. We watched them on YouTube, but they may be available elsewhere too.

I think it's best to pick something you are really interested in and are likely to join in for. I didn't do Deverry, but I did do Malazan with this group and it was a really fun experience:)

I've read Hurley before, so the setting seems true to her previous choice of combining the organic into what we normally see as purely mechanistic. She's a master of creative worldbuilding, no question.

After reading the first part, I wasn't totally sold on the actual story. I'm used to Hurley's pacing creating more of a sense of urgency, but this one seemed a bit slow to me. In the first part, since Zan has no memory, there wasn't much in the way of chacter development. Jayd was doing the thing that I always find a bit dicey - keeping secrets from the reader when she is the first person POV character. That makes sense if Zan is the POV character, but from Jayd's perspective it seemed like she was being weirdly vague with herself.

However, while I didn’t care much for the first part, I came around on the book for Part 2. I generally like the whole katabasis/anabasis type theme, and I thought this part of the book did that really well and highlighted Hurley's strength as a first class world builder. I did think that the third part felt kind of rushed, although at the same time it also seemed that there were zero surprises left. That's probably where some more could have gone into cementing the relationships between the characters after arriving at the surface and going forward.

I thought Parts 1 and 3 were about 3 stars and Part 2 was 4 stars, so overall it was a 3.5 star book for me. I rated up because the level of creativity is so seriously impressive.

I'm fine with whatever:)

I'm reading this in the next week or so.

Sounds good Shel:)

I just remembered this one - Vatta's War by Elizabeth Moon. It is 5 books and the new series Vatta's Peace is just starting now.

https://www.goodreads.com/series/4109...

I would definitely join a series read of Farseer and follow ups as I haven't read them yet.

My other suggestion is the Books of the Raksura by Martha Wells - book 5 is being released in July.
https://www.goodreads.com/series/6559...